Wang Daiyu on the Three Ultimates: An Islamic Makeover

Although the Muslim community has a long and established presence in China, not much has been known and written about the philosophical and historical underpinnings that ultimately blended Islam and Confucianism in the hearts and minds of Chinese Muslims. In this project, I set out to investigate the theory of transformative creation developed by Wang Daiyu 王岱舆 (1570-1660), the earliest as well as one of the most influential figures in the Han-Kitab 汉克塔布 (a Chinese-Arabic compound literally meaning “the Chinese books”), an Islamic philosophical tradition indigenous to China. I will demonstrate the novelty of Wang’s appropriation of the three Ultimates, a triad of key elements in traditional neo-Confucian cosmogony, and argue that he added a critical perspective and a distinctive voice to a predominantly non-theistic philosophical discourse.

*This initiative won a $9,500 Summer Research Grant from The Christian West and Islamic East: Theology, Science, and Knowledge, a project supported by the John Templeton Foundation and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. A paper written with the support of this grant is now accepted for publication with minor revisions at Ergo.

Zhuangzi on Yu, Zhou, and the Ontic Indeterminacy of the Dao

The chapter “Gengsang Chu” 庚桑楚 in the Zhuangzi is commonly regarded as containing one of the earliest definitions of space (yu 宇) and time (zhou 宙) in the Chinese philosophical tradition. However, careful analysis of the text shows that this accepted view is misguided: instead of space and time, I argue that yu and zhou should be understood as two distinct modes of existence of the Dao. This work is now published at the British Journal of the History of Philosophy.

For drafts of my work in Chinese philosophy, please contact me directly at QiuLinPhilosophy@gmail.com. Always a pleasure to share, discuss, and explore ideas together!